Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-05-21
THE INCREASED WATER RATES.
What Capt. Symons Says About Them

The attention Of Capt Thos w. symons, of the
engineer department OF the District government
was directed by STAR reporter to-day to reso-
luton adopted last night by Citizens Association
No. inQuiring whether the Commissioners have
the legal right to increase the water tax and also
how 1t Will affect poor people who are compelled
to purchase water by reason OF the very general
removal OF the public pumps The first thing
Capt. Symons did was to open copy Of Webb's
Digest, lying near his elbow, at page 1896, and te
read the following paragraph to the reporter:
"Ihat the said corporation tof WaSh1ngton} shall
have authority, by ordnance act or otherwise rC
establish scale Of annual rates for the supply and
use or said water, appOrLlOned to different classes
OF buildings In said city, and to modify
alter, amend, increase or reduce such scale from
time to time; to collect such rates or rents
when SO fixed, in advance or otherwise"
THE INCREASED RATE AUTHORIZED BY LAW.
"NoW." said Capt SymOns turning to the re-
porter, "you can see what authority the Commits
sioners have to increase the water rent, and thi:
authority has not been diminished or reduced BY
subsequent acts OF Congress. So far as the In
WIN be scarcely percep, ,1ble. Most ali the poo1
people were taxed under the Old rates at s. so pei
annum for house having q frontage Of I6 Tee,
only increase that amount by 20 cents
You Will find that nearly one-han OF the houses
In the city pay this rent and no more. In the
case OF houses which are four stories in height
and have frontage OF, say thirty feet, the new
water rates will be an increase OF two dollars and
four cents over the old Therefore you can see
that seventy five per cent OF the increase will fall
upon these large houses"
'-THE NECESSITY FOR THIS INCREASE"
he said, "arises from the fact that the
income heretofore derived from this source
has not been sufficient to support the department,
been made OF the lnadeQuacy OF the water SUP
ply. The Increase is also necessary from the fact
that at the present time there are several sections
x1nirr ,falxy
from fire. Ny object is to place nre hydranIs and
other appliances In these localities, but il cannot
be done without money.
THE REMOVAL OF PUMPS
''Before we got water from the Potomac River, |"
he continued, "the people were supplied by pumps.
Since that time three-fourths Of the pumps have
been removed, but not by the District authorities
In the majority OF cases it was done by the owners
OF the property on which they stood, who did not
wish % them IN there: Where M the pumps were and are
it was aScertained by analysis that the water
was impure and unit for use. Besides the service
a Keep n We y saS
the year 1887 only $4,000 to repair these pumps
which sum you will acknowledge is not sufncient,
when it Is known that there Is any number OF
pumps In the territory between Brightwood and
Anacostia. AS fast as we can we are replacing
the old pumps with handsome new ones but that
cannot be done unless there Is money"
THE QUESTION OF REVENUE
"Then, too, you must remember that quite one
half OF the revenue obtained from water rent is
used to pay the Districts share OF the interest on
the sinking fund. II we could have the entire use
OF The revenue to run the department there would
be no more complaints but you know that we
to which called the Commissioners
attention In my last annual report,
said Capt. Symons in conclusion. 81 mean that
the Waterman tax should be Increased from N
to IL cents per square foot. Why9 For the rea-
son simply that nowadays We are putting down
larger ger mains ma which OF course cost more money
fixed, the pipes were only about three to four
inches in diameter, but at the present time they
are much larger"